War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

News about War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 28, 2015

Former Khmer Rouge member Ao An is charged with crimes against humanity by international judge in Cambodia. MORE

Mar. 26, 2015

Amnesty International report accuses Palestinian groups, including military wing of Hamas, of war crimes and flagrant disregard of civilian lives during summer 2014 war in Gaza. MORE

Mar. 20, 2015

United Nations human rights investigators accuse Islamic State of genocide and war crimes over killings of Yazidi minority in Iraq. MORE

Mar. 19, 2015

Prosecutors in Serbia say eight men suspected of participation in 1995 Srebrenica massacre have been arrested; is first apprehension of any of those accused of killing Bosnians in Europe's worst slaughter since World War II. MORE

Mar. 18, 2015

United Nations panel monitoring conflict in Syria announces it will share details on suspected criminals with European judicial authorities preparing war crimes cases against them. MORE

Mar. 10, 2015

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for International Criminal Court, asks United Nations Security Council to enforce extradition of Sudanese Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir; had previously said she was suspending criminal investigations of Darfur atrocities due to lack of cooperation from Sudan. MORE

Mar. 10, 2015

Leaders in Armenian diaspora, Hollywood celebrities and human rights activists, as part of larger effort to commemorate 100th anniversary of Armenian genocide, establish Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, which will annually award $1 million to humanitarian who will give money to organizations that inspire them. MORE

Mar. 5, 2015

Syrian opposition begins posting photographs of prisoners who have died in government prisons so that family members can identify deceased and potentially serve as witnesses in war crimes cases; 27,000 images have been smuggled out of Syria by former police photographer, and show graphic evidence of torture. MORE

Mar. 1, 2015

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they will deport at least 150 Bosnians who they believe participated in war crimes during 1990s conflict in former Yugoslavia; say they have identified 300 immigrants who came to United States and concealed their involvement in wartime atrocities. MORE

Feb. 19, 2015

Special tribunal in Bangladesh hands death penalty to Abdus Subhan, leading figure in country's largest Islamic political party, for war crimes committed in 1971 independence war. MORE

Feb. 17, 2015

United Nations agrees to defer release of landmark report on potential war crimes in Sri Lanka during long war with rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; decision follows intense lobbying by Sri Lankan officials in what top officials describe as a broad new level of cooperation; nation will now demonstrate whether it can mount its own credible investigation into atrocities. MORE

Feb. 15, 2015

Senegalese tribunal announces that human rights trial of Hissene Habre, former president of Chad, will soon begin on charges that include crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture; Habre is accused of overseeing deaths of thousands during his time in power before fleeing Chad to Senegal in 1990; will be first African trial to rely on 'universal jurisdiction' rules. MORE

Feb. 5, 2015

News Analysis; government of Sri Lankan Pres Maithripala Sirisena is pushing United Nations to delay inquiry into war crimes committed against ethnic Tamils and to give country time to devise its own system for prosecuting perpetrators; Western countries must decide whether administration's promises of reconciliation justify putting off long-sought investigation. MORE

Feb. 5, 2015

Editorial notes federal trial in Virginia will take up case over whether American contractors CACI International Inc and L-3 Services Inc can be sued in American courts over abuse and torture at Abu Ghraib prison during Iraq war; holds contractors must be held responsible for horrific torture and abuse of detainees and keeping federal courts from getting involved in case would be wrong. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

International Court of Justice at The Hague rules neither Croatia nor Serbia committed genocide against each other's peoples when they were at war during breakup of Yugoslavia in early 1990s. MORE

Feb. 4, 2015

United Nations Human Rights Council names Mary McGowan Davis, former justice of New York State Supreme Court, to serve on panel's inquiry into possible war crimes in Gaza in 2014. MORE

Feb. 3, 2015

William Schabas, chairman of United Nations panel investigating alleged war crimes in 2014 Gaza conflict, resigns from panel, citing accusations by Israel of personal bias. MORE

Feb. 1, 2015

Nicholas Kristof Op-Ed column suggests best way to honor victims of historical atrocities like those committed during Holocaust is to stand up to current-day slaughter in places like Sudan; warns that commemorating liberation of Auschwitz and remembering brutality of Armenian genocide and war crimes of Japan during World War II are not enough. MORE

Jan. 31, 2015

Appeals judges at Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague uphold life sentences for Vujadin Popovic and Ljubisa Beara, former Bosnian Serb army officers who took part in 1995 Srebrenica massacre killing estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys. MORE

Jan. 28, 2015

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem study finds attacks by Israel on homes in Gaza during 2014 war against Hamas that resulted in deaths of more than 600 Palestinians, most of them women, children and elderly, violated international law; study, first major one from an Israeli group, is released as International Criminal Court in The Hague begins inquiry into possible war crimes committed in Palestinian territories. MORE

Jan. 27, 2015

Lord's Resistance Army rebel commander Dominic Ongwen makes first public appearance at International Criminal Court; Ongwen has been accused of murder and enslavement. MORE

Jan. 20, 2015

Guatemalan tribunal convicts Pedro Garcia Arredondo, former leader of special police unit, of crimes against humanity and homicide for deaths of 37 people in 1980 siege of Spanish Embassy. MORE

Jan. 17, 2015

International Criminal Court opens preliminary investigation into possible war crimes committed in Palestinian territories, which could lead to charges against Israel; move comes two weeks after Palestinians signed treaty to accept jurisdiction of the court; Israel condemns action and says it will not cooperate with inquiry. MORE

Jan. 14, 2015

Dominic Ongwen, captured Ugandan rebel commander in Lord's Resistance Army, will be turned over to International Criminal Court at the Hague; he is accused of helping to plan massacres and kidnap children; army leader Joseph Kony is at large. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

News Analysis; Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for International Criminal Court, will face numerous challenges in 2015 that may prove to be opportunities to show that court is still relevant; chief among challenges is request by Palestinians to investigate alleged crimes perpetrated by Israel in latest Gaza conflict. MORE

Jan. 10, 2015

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court, may start preliminary examination into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on Palestinian lands by Israel. MORE

Jan. 9, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

Legal experts say even if Palestinians are successful in bid to join International Criminal Court, exacting legal repercussions for Israeli actions during war in Gaza are unlikely because court may not recognize actions as falling under its purview; bid to join court, however, is likely to result in profound repercussions for Palestinians, from both Israel and United States. MORE

Dec. 26, 2014

United Nations announces plans to further cut down on number of peacekeeping forces in Darfur, Sudan, despite renewed violence that has driven 457,000 people from their homes in 2014 alone; statement comes in wake of International Criminal Court's suspension of genocide case against Sudan Pres Omar Hassan al-Bashir; two announcements show how international attention to crisis in Darfur has been overshadowed by other, newer crises elsewhere. MORE

Dec. 12, 2014

Ivory Coast is ordered by International Criminal Court to turn over Simone Gbagbo, country's former first lady, to face accusations of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and persecution. MORE

Dec. 7, 2014

Israeli military orders eight additional criminal investigations into conduct of its forces during its war with Hamas in Gaza; investigations come after withering accusations of war crimes by Amnesty International, and ahead of inquiry by United Nations Human Rights Council. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

Serbia and Bosnia, former enemies, cooperate to arrest 5 Serbs and 10 Bosnian Serbs more than two decades after torture and murder of about 20 people at a remote rail depot in Bosnia and Herzegovina; arrests are reminder of the unresolved crimes of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia; members of Bosnian Serb militia are also captured, and prosecutors hope to glean more information from them about their superiors who spearheaded massacre. MORE

Dec. 6, 2014

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court, withdraws charges against Kenya's Pres Uhuru Kenyatta of crimes against humanity; Kenyatta, first sitting president to appear before court, was accused of helping to orchestrate and finance a wave of ethnic violence after disputed elections in 2007, charges he has always denied. MORE

Nov. 28, 2014

Op-Ed article by Prof Ned Blackhawk recounts 1864 attack by Union armies on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho villagers at Sand Creek in Colorado, in which nearly 200 women, children and older men were murdered; holds Civil War obscures campaigns like Sand Creek Massacre and other acts of ethnic cleansing against American Indians; calls for National Day of Indigenous Remembrance and Survival to commemorate those murdered at Sand Creek. MORE

Nov. 25, 2014

Special tribunal in Bangladesh convicts Mobarak Hossain for slaying 33 civilians during Bangladesh's 1971 independence war; sentences him to death for his role in mass killings. MORE

Nov. 23, 2014

Editorial calls on United Nations Security Council to pass resolution to refer case against North Korea to International Criminal Court for prosecution of its leaders for crimes against humanity. MORE

Nov. 19, 2014

United Nations members vote decisively for groundbreaking resolution condemning North Korea for human rights abuses; resolution is first to recommend prosecution of nation's leaders for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. MORE

Nov. 8, 2014

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations human rights chief, sharply rebukes Sri Lankan government for what he says are efforts to obstruct an investigation of events in 2009, at end of Sri Lanka's brutal civil war, that may have constituted war crimes. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

International Criminal Court in The Hague contends that Israeli military forces may have committed war crimes when they stormed a flotilla of civilian ships delivering aid to the Gaza Strip in 2010. MORE

Nov. 6, 2014

United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague proposes temporary release for Vojislav Seselj, Serbian nationalist leader whose health has seriously deteriorated while awaiting end of his long-running trial; Seselj is charged with inciting others to commit war crimes in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990s. MORE

Nov. 5, 2014

Amnesty International publishes report accusing Israel of war crimes in its 50-day war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip; says military showed 'callous indifference' to civilians in airstrikes on homes that felled entire families. MORE

Oct. 26, 2014

Broad coalition of countries is pushing for the first time to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of crimes against humanity; move is breakthrough for human rights advocates who have long urged world powers to scrutinize reported rights abuses in North Korea, and not just focus on its nuclear arms. MORE

Oct. 22, 2014

United Nations reports that Islamic State militants threatened to exterminate minority Yazidis in Iraq by killing them if they refused to convert to Islam; report cites strong indication of attempted genocide. MORE

Oct. 21, 2014

Jang Il-hun, North Korea's United Nations envoy, warns his country will take unspecified countermeasures if any efforts is made to charge Kim Jong-un with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court; statement comes in reaction to United Nations report. MORE

Oct. 18, 2014

Trial begins for Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, two former leaders of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, on broad range of charges including genocide and war crimes; both defendants were sentenced to life in prison in separate proceeding, on charges they masterminded mass evacuations of Cambodians from their homes, conviction they are appealing. MORE

Oct. 9, 2014

Kenya’s Pres Uhuru Kenyatta makes reluctant appearance before three international judges who must decide whether case against him on charges of crimes against humanity should proceed at International Criminal Court or be withdrawn for lack of evidence. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

War crimes trial of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic ends following four years of hearings and testimony; prosecutors call for the conviction and life imprisonment of Karadzic on 11 charges, including genocide, stemming from the 1992-95 war; Karadzic proclaims his innocence. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

Two separate teams of investigators are combing Syria for evidence needed to establish criminal liability in future war crimes trials, even as nation continues to be riven by civil war and ravages of Islamic State militants; groups, financed by Western governments, seek to obtain key documents before they can be hidden, destroyed or tampered with. MORE

Oct. 7, 2014

Kenyan Pres Uhuru Kenyatta says he will briefly step down as president while he attends hearing at International Criminal Court at The Hague; Kenyatta is accused of committing crimes against humanity by instigating ethnic violence after Kenya's 2007 presidential election. MORE

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The Arab-led, American-supported coalition seeking to rout Houthi rebels in Yemen includes a leader indicted on charges of war crimes and vilified by Washington for more than a decade: President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan.